The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to dismiss the case before it, seeking to stop its proposed May 28 primary elections, following its alleged refusal to zone its 2023 presidential ticket to the South East.
A presidential aspirant, Cosmas Ndukwe, had approached the Abuja Court, praying that the PDP presidential primary be stopped, following the decision of the party to jettison the party’s zoning policy
The PDD has through its legal team, led by Mahmud Magaji, SAN, further queried the powers of the court to summon it to respond to the suit that was lodged by one of its presidential aspirants, Mr. Cosmas Ndukwe.
It maintained that the court lacked the jurisdiction to meddle in its internal affairs.
PDP, while objecting the suit, contended that the subject matter of the case, which borders on whether to zone its presidential ticket to any part of the country or not, was not an issue that the court was constitutionally empowered to adjourn
It, therefore, urged the court to vacate the order directing it to show cause why reliefs the Plaintiff is seeking in the suit, should not be granted.
Justice Donatus Okorowo of the high court had last Friday, granted an ex-parte order for PDP to appear on May 5, to respond to the suit.
The plaintiff, Ndukwe, who is a former Deputy Speaker of the Abia State House of Assembly, in an application he brought before the court, sought an order of injunction restraining his party from proceeding with its scheduled primary election, pending the hearing and determination of his suit challenging the position of the party on the issue of zoning its presidential ticket.
Cited as Defendants in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/508/2022, are the PDP, National Chairman of party, Dr Iyorchia Atu, Chairman of PDP Primary Election Planning Committee/National Secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, as well as the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
According to the defendants, “the cause of action in the suit relates to the internal affairs of a political party and therefore falls within the doctrine of political questions which are non-justiciable” and as such,, the court lack jurisdiction to entertain it.
PDP, noted that the cause of action arose from a communique its National Zoning Committee issued onApril 5, whereas the plaintiff’s suit, was filed on April 19, 15 days after, in violation of Section 285 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, which provides for 14 days for filing of such cases.
Ndukwe, through his lawyer, Mr. Paul Erokoro, SAN, challenged the scheduled presidential primary on the premise that PDP was planning to act in breach of its own constitution on zoning.
He told the court that PDP has a rotation of elective offices in place, and by that arrangement, it ought to be the turn of the Southern part of the country, especially the South East geopolitical zone, to produce the president.
